Teresė had a strong faith and was an even stronger woman. She was born in Kybartai, located close to Vilkaviškis and on the border of Kaliningrad.  She was only 20 when she left Lithuania and made her way to Germany with her aunt and her family.  In Germany she met and married Lithuanian Petras Gasiūnas. […]

Dr. Bernard Lown was an internationally renowned American doctor of Lithuanian Jewish origin, cardiologist, inventor of the defibrillator, Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Bernard Lown (birth name Boruch Lac) was born on 7 June 1921 in Utena. His parents were Nison and Bela Lac. One of his grandfathers was a rabbi. He lived and attended school in […]

Vytautas was born in Marijampole and attended Marijampole‘s Rygiskiu Jono Gymnasium.  After leaving school, Vytautas was a teacher of maths and science.   He entered the newly-established  national university in Kaunas as an undergraduate in the Autumn Semester of 1926 in the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.  He was later employed by a Lithuanian Sugar […]

Father Albinas Spurgis was a Catholic priest sent to Australia to minister to the Adelaide Lithuanians.  He was born on September 6, 1907, in Panevėžys. He attended the Ukmergė school and later the Seminary in Kaunas. He was ordained a priest on June 23, 1932. From 1932, he spent two years at St. Peter and […]

Born in Tauragė, Regina was 13 when WWII began.  During the Russian occupation of Lithuania, Regina witnessed her parents and neighbours shot by Russian army soldiers. Regina was forcibly conscripted into the German Army to dig trenches. Living close to the Lithuanian border, Regina learnt several languages: Lithuanian, Russian and Polish. She learnt German during the […]

Katre, as she was known, was born on the 23rd of February 1904 to Martin and Marike Genuth. She grew up with sisters, Elze and Marie and brother Vilius.  She married Martin Srugys and had a son, Gerhard Johannes. Sadly, Gerhard died of scarlet fever when he was 12. Later, Martin also passed away, and […]

Albinas was born not far from Sėda in northern Žemaitija, where he had a brother and sister. He first joined the scouts in 1930, at the age of 12, an interest that he retained throughout his life. Albinas attended high school in Mažeikiai, but finished high school at the Vytautas Didysis Sports Institute in Klaipėda. […]

The Šutas family lived for generations in the village of Bumbliai, where Elena was born. The Šutas family was one of the largest in the village, consisting of four boys and one girl. Elena loved dances and dancing. Dances were a great place to meet people and it was here that Elena met Linas Pimpė, […]